Lingayen – Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robrero, Liberal Party (LP) Vice Presidential candidate, hailed Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. for his transformative leadership that is made evident with the conferment of the Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH) award, now upgraded as Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG), by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to LGU – Pangasinan earlier this year.
In her visit to Pangasinan today, November 11, for a dialogue with about 7,000 incumbent barangay and local officials from various districts of the province led by stalwarts of the Partido na Pangasinan (PnP), Cong. Robredo said: “receiving the SGH/SGLG award reflects the kind of leadership of a leader.”
“Nakukuha lang po ‘yun ng mga magagaling sa pamumuno,” Cong. Robrero said as she recalled what her late husband, former DILG Secretary Jessie Robrero, told her about the exemplary leadership of Governor Espino. It was the former DILG secretary who started SGH award.
Cong. Robredo likewise stressed three key elements in good governance which include accountability, transparency and people’s empowerment and noted that engaging ‘the ordinary people’ in governance would resolve more problems faced in the community.
Earlier, 2nd district Cong. Leopoldo Bataoil escorted Cong. Robredo in a courtesy call on Governor Espino at the Capitol building.
LGU – Pangasinan romped off with 2015 SGLG award from Department of the Interior and Local Government after the province met all the criteria of core components (good financial housekeeping, social protection and disaster preparedness) and essential components (business-friendliness and competitiveness, environment management and peace and order) of the seal.
The provincial government also bagged the SGH in 2011 and 2012 in recognition of its good performance in internal housekeeping, particularly in local legislation, development planning, resource generation, allocation and utilization, customer service and human resource management and development.
For receiving said SGH/SGLG awards, the provincial government received Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) cash incentives which were utilized for the construction of various infrastructure projects and school buildings in the province.
It was learned from Cong. Robredo that by next year barangays would engage in Bottoms Up Budgeting (BUB). This, she said, will be implemented through activating Local Poverty Reduction Team (LPRAT) which will determine recipient barangays of projects that will be funded by the national government.
Other PnP stalwarts present during the dialogue held at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) gymnasium were: Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr.; Board Members Amado ‘Pogi’ Espino, III, Nestor Reyes, Raul Sison, Angel Baniqued, Jr., Liberato Villegas and Danilo Uy; incumbent municipal and city Mayors, Vice Mayors and councillors.
After the dialogue with local officials and presscon, Cong. Robredo held a separate dialogue with TODA officers also in Lingayen.